Western flavour wheel and local palate: cultural intermediaries shaping Taiwan’s specialty coffee market

How do cultural intermediaries shape the consumption of cross-cultural products in taste economies? This study examines how Taiwanese specialty coffee baristas mediate third-wave coffee culture through the Coffee Taster’s Flavor Wheel , employing three strategies: ‘flavour advocates’, who align with Western flavour standards; ‘flavour localisers’, who adapt descriptions to suit local palates; and ‘taste negotiators’, who bridge global and local food systems through sensory negotiation. Baristas actively reshape ‘good taste’ within cultural contexts, crafting new taste communities that simultaneously democratise specialty coffee and reinforce cultural hierarchies. As key cultural intermediaries, they embed coffee within Taiwan’s global and local identity, mediating between transnational commodity flows and local consumption practices. By foregrounding sensory narratives and professional expertise, this study reveals how baristas integrate Taiwan into global value chains while asserting a distinct gastronomic presence. These findings contribute to debates on consumption, globalisation and cultural intermediation, illustrating how expert knowledge standardises taste while shaping consumer agency and market differentiation.